Ladies & Gentlemen, Start your Bikes

Well, it’s been some time since I’ve posted, but it’s soon to happen. My bags are packed and on Monday I’ll get on a Greyhound bus headed for Williamsburg, VA to begin the bicycle trip across the country. I’ll begin cycling on Wednesday, June 11^th from Yorktown. I expect it’ll be slow going in the beginning as I get used to the cycling plus there are a number of historic sites in the first few miles: Williamsburg, Jamestown, Monticello (home of Thomas Jefferson).

I will be traveling with another cyclist. Chancy is a student at Indiana State and he contacted me several months ago telling me that he was interested in making the trip. “Sounds good to me,” I told him, not wanting to cycle alone. We’ll meet for the first time when we board the Greyhound bus in Indy.

The route I’ll be taking is the Transamerica Trail which is a series of highways marked out specifically for cyclists wishing to travel across the country. It begins in Virginia and ends in Oregon. The entire trip should take 6-7 weeks and is over 4,000 miles. We’ll be sleeping in tents and asking for restaurants and grocery stores to donate food which will reduce the costs of the trip which will enable more money to be sent to the Compassion International building project. For more information about the building project see the first post to the blog.

I will be taking my laptop along the trip and will be blogging the trip whenever the opportunity presents itself. Please feel free to check in and check it out. There will also be a lot of downtime I suspect so also feel free to send me an email. Below I’ve listed the equipment I’ll be traveling with.

Cycling Gear Shimano SH-M035 Cycling Shoes shoe covers Shimano Cleats Bike Pedals w/ clips 1 can Halt! 2.5 L hydration system bicycle helmet (w/ plastic visor) sunglasses w/ Rx insert Planet Bike Dual Spot LED/halogen headlight Lightweight lock Adventure Cycling Association Maps Light colored Backpack Reflective Tape Handlebar Rearview Mirror Red LED tail light on bicycle and trailer Camping Tent - Eureka! Zeus EXO 3 Ground cloth for under tent (tarp) Sleeping Bag Sleeping Pad 50' length of parachute cord LED Headlight Pillow Shovel Cooking/Food Lightweight nylon bag for food Stove - MSR SuperFly stove w/ AutoStart ignitor - 5.1 oz 2 canisters isobutane for stove at a time MSR Blacklite cookset lexan bowl, cup, utensils Salt/pepepr shaker Scotch Brite scrub pad 5 Gallon water container egg holder cutting board Clothing 3 pair Coolmax Alta shorts with liners 1 pair lightweight nylon shorts/pants (zip off shorts) 1 pair long cycling tights 3 short sleeve Coolmax Alta shirts long sleeve Coolmax heavy weight cycling jersey Gloves Flip Flops microfiber fleece vest rain jacket and pants 4 pair Coolmax socks (3 short, 1 long) (Wal-Mart) 3 pair synthetic underwear (Campmor) arm warmers baseball hat Bandana First Aid/Personal Care First aid kid (Liquid Skin, Neosporin, Band-Aids, ACE Bandage, non-stick gauze pads, kling gauze, safety pins, matches, Tylenol, Benadryl, Sudafed, etc) Aquis pack towel (hand towel size) Lip Balm Sun Screen Toilet Paper Foot powder Moisturizer Camp Soap Bug Spray Deodrant Maintenance 3 - 20" spokes Kevlar emergency spoke 4 - 20" tubes (bike) 16" tube (trailer) 2 tube repair kits 4 - Continental Top Touring 20" tire (for bike) 16" Primo Comet tire (for trailer) pump w/ built in pressure gauge 2 spare chain links Crank Brothers 19 Multitool 2 tire levers chain lubricant Duct tape (15' wrapped around a pen barrel) zip ties bicycle bell Misc Leatherman Micra (small pocket knife) Credit card/debit card/checks/drivers license/passport Technology Laptop Computer GPS Garmin Vista Digital camera Cateye Enduro 8 (Bicycle Computer) 8 Energizer Rechargable AA batteries & charger Books Long Distance Cycling by Edmund R Burke and Ed Pavelka Bicycling Coast to Coast by Donna Lynn Ikenberry Bike Rans Rocket Recumbent Bicycle BOB Trailer